𝗘nzo pivoted on his heel, catching his sister's wrist just as she lifted it, attempting to drive the knife he'd given her directly in his back. The water pouring from the spouts drenched her hair, giving her a daring dark look as the strands stuck to her cheeks; the droplets falling magnified her furious eyes, making it seem as if they were glowing.
Her teeth were bared as she emitted a low growl, now struggling to land the blade underneath his skin as the force of his grasp was stopping her from doing so. The smoke bombs had knocked Andreas out of the mind space, leaving him dazed and confused, though it didn't take a wise man to understand why Rayne wanted to end his life.
"Calm down—let's talk," he tried anyway.
This angered her more. Yanking her hand from his hold, she used the foot on the same side to turn fast, all while lifting the other one off the ground. The back of her heel slammed into his ribcage, flinging him to the ground off to the side.
"Don't pity me, Enzo. Fight me!"
He pulled himself off the floor quickly, not giving her the opportunity to hit him while he was down. Instead of it pissing her off, it almost seemed to amp the situation up. Her hands landed in front of her chest; a fist forming over the blade, and a normal one for the other. He swallowed his breath, trying to catch the amount that had been knocked out during that hit.
More than anything, he knew this was her redemption arc. This was her making up for what happened all those months ago when she wrongfully confronted him on his former house steps. Back then, he couldn't have her winning, but right now?—it was all he wanted.
She deserved this.
Reluctantly, he raised his hands, getting in a stance.
"What're you trying to prove?"
"Nothing to you," she sneered.
"Then what?—"
His words were left hanging in the air as she charged him; he prepared for her to throw a punch at his upper body, as that's what it looked like she was doing, but at the last second, she ducked. His hand launched forward, planning a now failed counterattack. At the same time, Rayne palmed the ground with one hand and threw her legs up, supporting her body weight on just that limb now.
The base of her sneaker kicked the underside of his chin, performing an undercut; blood seeped into his mouth cavity as his head snapped back. Stumbling steps to balance himself distracted him from the fact that she had recovered all too quickly—that brat Mason must have taught her that.
Rayne sucker punched him deep in the stomach, now causing a lurch forward. In that instance, he saw an opening; her head wasn't ducked properly to avoid a hit and he knew better than anything that he could open-palm slap her, but as his hand twitched to move, he changed his mind.
His sister caught this.
Spinning again, she placed her foot in the center of his chest, kicking him back. The power behind this move was enough to throw him back against the balcony banister. His arms sloppily hooked over the faded metal bars—it was the only thing that kept him on his two feet.
"You fucker," Rayne snarled, tossing the knife to the ground, "You're going easy on me."
"No, I'm not."
"Oh, yeah?" she claimed, taking a running step, "Then where's the brother that knowingly let his partner hit me with a car, not knowing what injuries might suffice? I have a scar across the inside of my arm," she gestured, "—and a new one across my jaw because of you," she pointed, "So maybe I'll take a page out of your buddies book and make you pay—since you keep fucking underestimating me!"
Enzo had three seconds to react to her movements, and in those three seconds, all he was allotted to do was brace himself. Without hesitating, Rayne charged at him, jumping just before she reached him; in the process, she grabbed onto his hoodie, tossing not only herself, but him as well, over the balcony. As they fell to the lower floor, she managed to swap positions with him mid-air, placing him on the bottom of the pile.
"AGH!" he shouted out as his back connected with the ground.
The additional weight of her body on top of him knocked the breath out of him for real this time, leaving him curled and deprived. Rayne, herself, had only him as a pillow so it was only fair that her breathing was isolated in response.
This did not stop her as it did him, not surprisingly.
Pulling the glock out of his pants strap, Rayne cocked the top back and loaded one of the four bullets left in the magazine. Raspy and out of breath, she looked like a mad woman above him—a few minutes away from committing her first non-mercy killing. As much as he wanted to be that person for her, until he knew someone else was okay, he wasn't going anywhere.
Enzo let his eyes shut, starting to summon his internal friend.
His sister whipped her palm across his face, smacking him so hard his eyes flew open and his neck snapped to the side, inevitably pulling a muscle.
"Don't you fucking dare send out that psychopath," she growled, "—you want so badly to be a family, then face me like the brother you supposedly are."
Hands flat on either side of his head, he would wave a white flag if he had one.
"I am not your enemy, Rayne," he whispered.
Hovering in a straddle position above him, trapping him in, she aimed the gun at his head, finger on the trigger. Just a small pinch of a movement and his brains would paint the concrete.
"I don't care for your pitiful emotions, Enzo," her eyes were devoid of emotion, "All I need is for you to tell me the truth—from start to finish—and so help me God, if I get even a hint that you plan on letting out that blood-licking sociopath in your brain, I will kill you and him and whoever else lingers in your fucked up head, do you understand me?"
He nodded simply.
She didn't like that.
Rayne moved the gun a few inches away from his head and pulled the trigger, shooting a dent in the ground. The shell hit the inside of his upper arm as she grabbed a handful of his hair and pulled him toward her, placing him in the world's most uncomfortable position.
Digging the barrel of the gun into the meatiest part of his neck, she glared at him with a gaze so fierce, he finally sought her capable of killing a family member. Not that he ever doubted her skills, but doing and saying are two different things, and as fictitious as it might have been, he thought he was getting closer to cracking her outer wall.
"Use your goddamn words!"
"Yes!" he huffed, getting a little irritated himself, "What do you want to know?"
"Everything," she demanded, lowering her voice an octave.
More lines of liquid dripped off the smoothness of her chin, and from his below angle, with her sudden softness, he couldn't help but see someone else in her. From the bright auburn hair, to the glowing eyes—she was an uncanny version of the woman that put a curse on him. The one that made him promise himself to never hurt another unless there was no possible way around it.
Mom.
"When I was four years old, Nadine left us and Carson put me into the Holden Boy's Home. It was an undercover sex ring and by the time I was eight, I snapped. I had a friend there, the owner's daughter; she visited occasionally and I loved her like I've never loved anyone," he gulped down the lump in his throat, "I killed everyone there. Romie was caught in the crossfire—I never intended to hurt her, but she wanted to turn me in and, not understanding the damage at the time, I chased after her, slipped, and stabbed her in the heart."
"Keep going."
"Three years and seven months ago, I was told that I had to help bring down the main mafia family. Leo and Gemini wanted me the most because I was unethical, illogical, and I wanted to shed blood. By that point, I had killed over ninety men that shared the same face as our father because I couldn't have Carson himself. The only reason why you and Matteo were roped into this shit was because of my own selfish desires."
Enzo blinked away what he thought were tears—in reality, it was just water.
"—I asked for Matteo in return for my subordination. They gave him to me. I singlehandedly tortured him for two years by myself because he looked enough like Carson. I had an idea about what you both went through growing up, but I didn't care. Matteo was the son I was supposed to be. I only saw what I wanted to see and I refused to see what I ignored. Then I met you. You were different."
Rayne's eyes fluttered in anger. Or maybe it was understanding or something short of an apologetic undertone, but whatever it was, it disappeared as soon as it showed up, leaving her walls higher than they had been minutes prior.
"I don't believe you for a second," she tightened her grip, "One person's existence doesn't just shift your moral code—once a piece of shit, always a piece of shit."
"So Rueben didn't shift yours then?—Miss. Know It all?"
She drew her head back slightly, but he didn't give her time to reply.
"When we became friends," he continued, "I felt something I hadn't felt since Nadine abandoned me. It was like the idea of family suddenly increased in my brain, and the thought of torture and death and killing was now like a bad taste on my tongue. I stopped hurting Matteo. I started to patch up what I did. I killed our father—I finally put my foot down and made Ruby my own—"
"This isn't a fairytale, and people's integrities don't just change like that!"
"You're right!" he snapped, sitting up, pressing the gun further into his carotid, "—they don't. Mine didn't change just because you walked into my life. It isn't that fucking simple! It changed because you were so kind, so considerate—so valuable and unjudging and gentle to a sorry sucker like myself and it unlocked a world of pent-up memories in my head. Memories of Nadine! I didn't suddenly change my track because of just you, Rayne."
"Wait, what—?"
"I saw you that day at the graveyard. I saw you give up on our mother and I saw you bury the last real piece of her in the dirt. She was wrong to leave us with our monster of a father, but she's done more for me and more for you than you even know. You refuse to acknowledge it because you're stuck in a woe-is-me mindset—too busy worrying about the shit that directly affects you to see the bigger picture! Can't you see how much she loved us?—how much I love us?!"
By now, all the smoke had cleared. Even with the continuous downpour, he could see the salt-soaked tears streaming down her cheeks. He could see the anger in her eyes now being put out by the grief she hadn't dealt with and the longing she helplessly felt toward her pathetic excuse of an older brother.
"How did you get pulled into this? How did I lose you before I ever had you?"
"Leo and Gemini have been planning this since before we were ever thoughts in our parent's minds. They have a plot for revenge that had nothing to do with us and everything to do with their sick and twisted ideas of what they think they deserve. When I was eight, I met them. They were there the day I killed everyone, the day I split."
He sighed loudly, realizing how easy it'd all be if she just pulled the trigger.
"Carson wanted to make a weapon out of me, and a weapon is what he made. I'm lost in a sea of unknown identity, trapped in a head harboring more than one personality—sheltered behind walls of unforgivable mistakes. Kill me if you must, but all I've truly wanted was to replicate the love our mother showed me before she killed herself. A process I never thought possible until I met you."
It was quiet for a minute.
Then: "You thought all of this, wanted all of this, and thought it impossible, yet never once have I seen you treat my niece wrongly."
The saying of my and not our was not lost on him.
"I see myself in her. Her eyes are so innocent, so big—so blindly naive to the disgusting truths of the world. In all realities, she's my daughter, my reason for living."
As the words slipped off his tongue, the will to fight ran through the blood in his veins. Momentarily, he had reminded himself of her existence during this fight, and easily he had let the thought of her become extinguished in his mind.
Enzo slowly bent his legs at the knees, getting ready to launch her off his body the second he felt her rigid body relax again.
"Who are Leo and Gemini?"
"Rueben has an older brother—his name is Rigo; I'm sure you saw how fast he targeted your husband-to-be once everyone split up."
Rayne froze.
Not what he wanted, but better than being on guard.
"And Gemini?"
Enzo knew that the remorse and guilt of this part was going to haunt him for a long time, but if he had to choose between Ruby and his sister, his answer would always be Ruby. He's known from the very start that his sister was a force to be reckoned with, whether that was mentally or physically.
From here on out, she could handle her own weight.
"Why don't you ask her yourself?"
"Wha—"
Veneering from the left of the room, amping up her pace, Gemini ran up to their side. Rayne had time to turn her head to face her before the top of her foot was slamming into the flat of his sister's ribcage, sending her sailing across the room. Rayne tumbled twice before face-planting into a structured wall across the way—her hand flinched almost instantly, and he smiled.
"Perfect timing," he looked up at Gemini.
"God, I hate Carson's leftovers."
He took the hand she was offering him.
Once he was on two feet, he turned to his sister again; she was shakily rising to her knees, staring at the both of them like they were evil spirits, seconds from taking her soul. What Rayne didn't understand, however, was that they were both on the same page.
Gemini wanted nothing to do with her almost as much as he yearned for her.
Her business was strictly with Rueben, much like Rigo.
Though if she got in the way, that would change things.
"—and I hate this stupid mask."
Without warning, she grabbed the back of her hood and tugged it down, unleashing a large amount of platinum blonde hair. She rang it out with a few head shakes and when it was pleasantly resting on her sweater, standing out against the blackness of it, she palmed the mask.
"L-Lilly?" Rayne wisped from across the room.
She chuckled.
"Try again."
Before she was given the chance to, she ripped the mask off, dropping it to the floor. With a clatter, all five foot, eight inches of her were revealed; his sister's gasp ricocheted off the walls.
Edging fifty now, those piercing blue eyes and brilliantly tan skin looked as stunning as they had when she faked her death a few years back.
"Y-you're ... dead," Rayne huffed.
"I don't look dead, do I?" she mused.
"You should be," his sister found the strength to speak properly, "Evelyn Torres died four years ago."
"She did," Evelyn replied, unholstering her gun, "One could say I was reborn."
"Doubtful. You hired Clarke back in 1998—you had these plans for over twenty years."
Evelyn used the gun in her hand and her empty one to clap; the sound of that wasn't as deafening as the cackle that came when she snapped her head back in pure ecstasy.
"Smart girl—you've done your research."
"It wasn't all that hard following your trail."
Enzo had to physically stop himself from putting his arm in front of Evelyn's path, halting her from closing the gap between them and his sister. If he gave away his real morals, he would be shot dead right before her, and who knew what would happen to Ruby without his protection.
Part of him knew that she wouldn't put her down—she'd do worse. Seeing how she treated her own daughter, a useless two-year-old meant nothing to her.
"Sweetheart, we opened that trail for you," she continued to laugh, "The mafia couldn't find us for years upon years. Don't be so stupid as to believe
a minor lawyer like you could have accomplished such a grave piece. You're nothing but a pawn to us."
Evelyn stopped in front of her; she kicked her face, slamming the back of her head against the wall. The sound of her skull cracking and the blood splattering had him back-peddling.
Rayne crumpled into a ball on the ground; her ragged breaths were still heard.
"And you'll die as one too."
The sound of a bullet spiraling through the air shook the walls, but not as much as the fact behind it. In an instant, more gunfire penetrated the air and the gun that was lingering between Evelyn's fingers was now clacking on the floor in front of Rayne.
Enzo ducked under the fired ammo and grabbed Evelyn by the back of her hood, yanking her down, nearly missing another round. The sound of bare feet hitting the ground alerted him, and as he looked up and made contact with eyes that looked identical to his sister's, he knew the situation was shifting.
"We have to go!" he shouted in Evelyn's ear.
Pulling her without giving her a chance to choose, he threw her into the hallway and fell to the ground himself, beaten with exhaustion.
"You're right—we need to leave," she bit out.
"What about Rigo?"
"What about him?" she snapped, "He chose how he wanted to die, just like we are now."
Enzo, confused by her logic, used the wall to help him to his feet. Withdrawing keys from the back of her pocket, Evelyn wiggled them before dropping them in his hands. He knew it was code to enact the getaway plan, but there was still one thing he needed to take care of.
"Meet me at the car," he announced, "There's something I need to take care of."
"It better not be that little girl, Lorenzo," she replied, monotone.
He halted briefly, "Of course not—I'm going to kill my brother."
Before he turned, Evelyn shot a look of approval. Sprinting away, he calmed down the murderous thoughts in his head at the sound of his full name and sprinted to the first floor, looking for the hidden room he'd put the exact person he was commanded not to protect in.
Hopping down the last five steps, he used his yelp and his pain to project himself forward. Ten steps later, he was ripping the compartment open and pulling out a half-awake Ruby.
"Uncle Zo," she whimpered.
"I'm here, baby."
He wanted desperately to get her out of the cold water, as she was wearing nothing more than a t-shirt and overalls, but as he pulled open the front door, he noticed he was escaping nothing. The dark clouds from earlier were angry—they shot down heavy droplets of water.
Darting into the storm, regardless of it, he ran and ran until he reached the middle of the woods, ending up where his sister's team had parked their vans. It had been nineteen minutes since the fight broke out at this point, so he knew he had at least thirty seconds to pick a van.
Thinking logically, he guessed the furthest van was the spectator's van.
"Stay right here, Rubes," he placed her on the ground.
"Zo, I'm scared!" she cried.
"I know, I know."
Ignoring her protests for a second, he pulled open the van and leaped in. Just as he predicted, there were ten seconds left on the mechanism. Their hacker turned his head at him, shocked to see someone other than his team enter.
Enzo grabbed the device and tipped it upward as the last second counted down; the gun fired and lodged between the metals that made up the roof. Ruby's scared scream told him that he had only a minute or so before Evelyn was to hunt him down and drag him off, likely killing her in the process and then maybe him later for lying to her.
Ripping the mouth gag off him, he spoke quickly.
"I'm leaving my niece with you. My niece is also Rayne's and Rueben's. If I find out anything happens to her, I will track you down and kill you in the slowest, most painful way. Understand?"
He nodded profusely.
"Good," he reached into his pocket and pulled out the letter he'd stored in the room with Ruby for safekeeping, "—give this to Rayne. If you don't, I'll know."
He didn't wait for a nod this time.
Running out of the van, he grabbed Ruby by the waist and hoisted her inside.
"Uncle Zo has to go away for a little bit, okay?"
"What?!" she shrieked, "Where go?!"
"On a vacation."
"No!" she cried.
"It'll be okay," he hugged her tightly, "Uncle Zo will come back one day and he'll bring you lots of candy and we will have lots of fun, but right now you have to be good and listen to him."
"I don't want you to gooo!!!!!" she sobbed into the crook of his neck.
He pulled away.
"You know I love you, yes?" he stroked her cheek, "You will be happy here."
Ruby stomped her feet, sending a loud and upset message with her small sneakers. He felt the tears stream down his face, but he knew he had to stay strong. Their hacker would take care of her until the rest returned—he was sure of that.
Leaning down, he placed a lengthy kiss on her forehead.
"You'll do great things, beautiful Ruby."
Then, without giving her time to grieve, he yanked her hands off him and pushed her into the van. She landed hard on her butt, but he knew that if he didn't give her a reason to be upset with him, she was never going to let him go.
So, with a heavy heart, he slammed the doors in her face and turned on his heel, running into the darkness of the woods knowing nothing except for the fact that he was on the wrong side, and now, after all of this, he would stop at nothing to return to the right one.